DOM Quotes, Critics Flashcards
“Why should only I, of all ___ of the ___ be cased up like a ___ ___?”
“**Why should I of all princes of the world be cased up like a holy relic?” - Duchess 3.2 **
Themes: Power, Gender & Patriarchy
Sees herself to embody masculine authority - has political power being Duchess
Connotes religious object to be worshipped - wants active role in society rather than being passively objectified - challenging & subverting , threatenin hierarchical systems designed to control women
“Whether I am ____ to live or to die, I can do _ like a _ ”
“Whether I am doomed to live or to die i shall do both like a prince” - Duchess 3.2 (when F discovers her secret)
Themes: Gender, Death
Responds unafraid - tragic heroine (defiant & noble)
Simile - holds onto masculine power she has
“Why might I not marry? I have not gone about this to create a ___ __ _____”
**“Why might i not marry? I have not gone about this to create a new world custom.” - Duchess 3.2 **
Themes: Gender
Rhetorical question - questioning enforced submission (defiance). Jacobean audience: she is trying to change world customs as a woman (forbidden, taking on leadership/political roles) - marrying Antonio without permission from family, avoiding femme couverture
Hellen ___ “It is essentially a ____ play ____ a woman ____ for her _____”
Hellen Mirren: “It is essentially a feminist play about a woman fighting for her autonomy”
“Pray sir, ___ ___”
“I am married. ____ ___ to your ____”
“Pray, sir, hear me.” “I am married. Happily not to your liking” - Duchess 3.2
Themes: Gender & Patriarchy
Declaritives - statement of facts, acknowledges her marriage isnt what F wants = defiant
“That are witches”
- Ferdinand 3.2
Themes: Gender
Motif - witches in revenge tragedy = unruly women (referring to Duchess as unruly)
King James Daemonology
[Ferdinand] [offers money]
“___ throat must I ___?”
“Whose throat must I cut?” - Bosola 1.2
Themes: Corruption
Once paid, he’s happy to engage in corruption - quick to be part of violence = malcontent
How is Bosola malcontent?
he criticises the corruption around him & expresses dissatisfaction with society, but also participates in the same corruption
What is malcontent?
a character who is disillusioned & dissatisfied with society, criticising it
Where and when was DOM first performed?
Blackfriars Theatre 1613
Norton “Revenge tragedies.. represent _____ as powerful and ____ and explore the _____ and ______ forces which oppress them”
Norton: “Revenge tragedies… represent women as powerful and independent and explore the social and cultural forces which oppress them”
Norton: “key character type in revenge tragedy is the malcontent. they are ___,_____ and _______ figures whose _____ is difficult to __ __”
Norton: “key character type in revenge tragedy is the malcontent. They are outsiders, alienated and ambivalent figures whose motivation is difficult to pin down”
“__ ____ de presenti, is absolute ____”
“Per verba de presenti, is absolute marriage” - Duchess1.2
Themes: Power, Gender
Latin langauge - term in canon law - Elizabethan & Jacobean court recognised as a marriage the simple declaration by a couple, that they were man & wife even without witness/religious ceremony - D indulges in this despite worries surrounding it = powerful
____: Duchess as a “female Christ”
Dalleaded - sacrificing her safety = power
“____, lusty ____!”
“Farewell, lusty widow!” - Ferdinand 1.2
Theme: Desire
Epithet portrays repressed sexual desire
Ferdinand refers to the Duchess as a “_____ strumpet”
“Notorious strumpet” 2.5
women who had many sexual encounters & promiscuous - thinking about D in sexual terms
“The howling wolf”
-Ferdinand 3,2
Growing into madness - lycanthrope foreshadows his extreme hysteria
_____-House “a modern ______ reading may well see F’s ________ on a Freudian level ie as a _____ of a deep rooted _____ problem”
Bernhardt-House “a modern psychological reading may well see F’s lycanthropia on a Freudian level ie as a manifestation of a deep rooted sexual problem”
“___ not your whores _____ that shall quench __ ____ but your whores blood”
“Tis not your whores milk that will quench my wildfire but your whores blood” - Ferdinand 2.5
Themes: Desire
repetition of epithet ‘whore’ - thinking of D in violent sexual terms = sadistic
2014 Globe Production - F kisses D forcibly
Open with his desire & acts upon his taboo hysteria , growing into madness & becoming unhinged
“I am going into __ ____”
“I am going into a wilderness” - Duchess 1.2
Themes: Power, Gender
Metaphor “wilderness” - symbolising the dangerous, uncharted territory of secret marriage to Antonio that subverts - asserts autonomy despite risks (societal rejection and defiance of patriarchy)
= unafraid woman to pursuit in her desires.
“___ can the ____ force more?”
“What can the church force more?” - Duchess 1.2 after marriage is done
Themes: Power, Patriarchy, Religion
Challenges the Church’s power over her marriage - defiance: marrying Antonio is a more binding than any religious institution - Rhetorical Q subverts trad gender expectations & religious authority = rejection of patriarchal control over her autonomy.
The Globe Theatre’s 2014 production implies Duchess’s unruliness by portraying her openly & passionately..
.. kissing Antonio on stage
bold display of sexual agency that defied societal norms of the Jacobean era as it’s being initiated by the woman rather than the man.
Themes: Power, Gender & patriarchy
“___, be confident”
“Sir, be confident” - Duchess 1.2
Themes: Power, Gender & Patriarchy
Imperative - positions her as the decision-maker in marriage = subverting traditional gender roles where men are typically dominant.
